DarthPenguin

Quick update - less training sessions than usual as have not been feeling well still. Got blood tests booked in for next week which will hopefully get to the bottom of it!

Monday 24 July BJJ Session Session was working on cross facing from side control. Important details were to keep cross facing arm bent and at a 90degree angle with vertical part of forearm pushing into temple to turn head. Do this if using either collar grip or hamd slid under head. Also drilled transition from side into mount via knee on belly, using likely responses to the cross face to set up an arm triangle with the framing arm by pushing it across and trapping Did a couple of rounds of situational sparring then had to sit out as started to feel ill

Tuesday 22 July Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 90kg x 5 102.5kg x 5 117.5kg x 8 70kg x 10 70kg x 10 70kg x 10 Close Slanted Grip bench 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 Fat DB Lateral Raise 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 Leg Raises 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps

Tuesday 18 July Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 55kg x 5 62.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 KB Offset squat (this was one KB in rack position - alternated half reps on left, half on right) 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 KB Clean 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 Have been feeling not great last few weeks again so have managed less sessions. Found out why as it turns out i have hade a case of the Strep virus as have the kids (one had it manifest as Scarlet Fever which is how we found out!). All seem fine now though

Wednesday 12 July Karate Session Warm ups usual warm ups Kihon Worked through grading required kihon Kata Worked through every heian kata, Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai at least once Kumite Did a drill where myself and one of the black belts stood at opposite ends of the hall and the rest of the class formed up in lines and all took turns attacking one of us then running to the other with a single unannounced attack. We had to stand up against the wall so there was no retreat and defend then counter. Was an interesting drill and i quite enjoyed it!

Welcome, nice to (virtually) meet you. Look forward to hearing from you on here - am sure you will have a lot to add

Yeah to echo what Wastelander said i think any bunkai would really start from Heian Shodan / Pinan Nidan. That is where things start to crop up that might be relevant. Taikyoku Shodan (we call it Kihon kata) i was told is mainly to get you used to punching with square shoulders and hips and transitioning to/from that into angled shoulders and hips with a gedan barai. I think if you learn the Heian Shodan bunkai you will cover any that could arise from Kihon kata since it will all be encapsulated within it.

Sounds like an interesting course and being informed by properly informed individuals too! Only issue i would have is that a large part of using such training in reality is mindset : couple of simple examples i have for that - a bjj bb i know openly says he wouldn't be confident in a bar fight if it broke out as his mentality is not suited to that type of confrontation; multiple instances of where an active shooter situation has broken out in the US and people (either working or bystanders) who are armed have not rushed in to engage the shooter. Please note i'm not being judgemental either way here as self preservation is entirely rational as is the instinct to save others. No-one will know if they have the correct mindset until they are in the situation that calls for it and that is unfortunately too late (obvious exceptions being those who train for it in the military or law enforcement).

Wednesday 5 July Karate Session Another quiet session tonight, just myself, another brown belt, my 6yr old and the two instructors. Means i got a semi private really so it was an excellent session for improvement of my technique Warm ups Just did our usual warm up Kihon Quick run through the grading required kihon plus a few other combinations from freestyle stance Kata Majority of the class was spent going through Bassai Dai. Really useful. Instructor broke it down and was really focusing on details. Having two of us that both needed to do it was useful. It is feeling a lot better already from a class going over details.

Tuesday 4 July Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 55kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 70kg x 5 KB Swings 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 Have had a tonne on in the last week so cut it short there. Wanted to make sure i got the main lift (bench press) in and i have been noticing a good benefit from the kb swings - both conditioning wise and leaning out a little with the greater volume.

I would be surprised if anyone's style covered that - off the top of my head the only style i can think of that might do so is 'proper' krav maga - i was once told by someone that real krav maga is not taught outside the israeli military as a lot of the techniques require you to use a rifle/gun to perform them. bushido_man is in law enforcement i believe so he might learn some tactics for defence from guns as part of his work, but you would need to ask him. For everyone else i think the best style of defence is , as an old instructor of mine used to teach, to utilise this technique : 1) lift both hands into the air 2) ask politely, what would you like? Please take it 3) hopefully not be shot Never considered 'gun defences' as worth learning. Gun crime is pretty much non existent over here (no one has guns) so it wouldn't be a good usage of time really for me

Belated happy 4th of July to all our American members on here! Hope you all had a nice celebration

Rather than steps i prefer to use the distance travelled metric instead - everyones stride length is different so i think that distance is more useful for me. I shoot for an average of about 5k per day (so a little over 3 miles) which can be managed with not much extra effort just from walking to shops rather than taking the car etc.

Wednesday 28 June Karate Session Small class tonight, 2 instructors and 3 students (one of whom was my 6yr old!) so after warm ups we were split into 2 - myself and the other brown belt with one instructor and the other instructor with my son. Warm ups Usual warm ups Kata We went straight into kata, working a lot on details. Performing the kata to counts then running through it. Worked through Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan. Was really useful to go really into detail and pick up minor flaws that don't easily get spotted with a full class Also ran through Bassai Dai and Tekki Shodan a couple of times each. Kihon We then went through grading required kihon to finish the class with a lot of emphasis on the kicks A really useful class

Tuesday 27 June Lifting Session Seated Overhead shoulder press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 35kg x 5 40kg x 5 45kg x 5 35kg x 5 35kg x 5 KB Swing 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 24kg x 20 kept the session short and sweet as needed to get back to work quickly.

Monday 26 June Karate Session Warm ups Similar warm up to usual though with some additional sprints across the hall added in Kihon Worked on new grading required kihon. Wasn't doing too great with the first combination adding an uraken in immediately after yoko geri kekomi as i wasn't squaring my shoulders enough post kick to then do the uraken. Worked on it quite a bit at home post session and feels a little more natural now Kata Worked on Bassai Dai. Went over it in detail with one of the 3rd Dans who gave me a lot of pointers for little details. Really useful session. He pointed out also that as i am large i should emphasise large motions with it as they look a lot better. He also gave me a nice tip for blading my foot on side kicks - something i always find tough! Kumite A few run throughs of jiyu ippon kumite which i am required to do now. Went fine. Feedback of hit harder! 3rd dan pointed out that while i am blocking with plenty of force (i spun someone round with a soto uke) it is obvious i am not going full power (common decency i thought!) and i should go harder as it will be expected in grading. Was slightly surprising feedback as i thought it always made sense to be careful but he said that strikes and blocks are treated differently in that regard and as i go through the grades i am expected to demonstrate that i can use more power

For myself rather typical. People started picking on me when i was about 5 due to my ethnic origin (am mixed race, which was a bigger deal back then!). Was getting in fights daily so my dad sent me to a karate class in one of the crazier parts of the West of Scotland - was a 1.5hr drive each way and my dad took me 4 times a week! Enjoyed the class and it paid dividends so a win/win! Have pretty much trained ever since other than the odd bit of time off due to injuries and when kids were first born

Welcome, nice to (virtually) meet you.

An excellent post - really insightful and i 100% agree with your alternative categories. As another example i spent many years training in a taekwondo offshoot which would have branded itself as modern but which i would definitely include within your Preservation category - cross training was massively frowned upon etc. Another thing which i think the progression based fighting traditions do well is implement the concept of adapting a technique to suit your body type and for it to still be correct - eg performing an armbar slightly differently; a scissor sweep etc. while in a Preservation style this is usually frowned upon more (if sparring/fighting then you get a little more leeway but if you have an ankle issue and perform a sidekick with ball of foot rather than blade of foot you will be told it is wrong rather than an allowable adaptation - even with chamber and kick motion being identical)

Thursday 22 June BJJ Session Was able to get along to lunchtime session today. Small session with 5 of us plus the instructor. We were working a pass and cross choke from top half guard. Deep collar grip for both and then either punch fist to floor for the pass or deep grip and go for other collar for the choke - either option depending on opponents reaction. Drilled these both quite a lot and then had some sparring. Was really pleased as i managed to hit a couple of cross collar chokes from mount, which is something i have been working on a lot, and also managed a de la riva sweep to mount which is something i wanted to try more. Overall a really positive session

Wednesday 21 June Karate Session Not many people here tonight - one 3rd dan teaching and one participating, me and two of the kids (one being my 6yr old) Warm ups slightly different to usual but was good to mix it up Kihon Given some longer combinations to work on and myself and the 3rd dan were left to it mainly so the kids could be focused on - which was fine. Kata Went through Bassai-Dai, which i was pleased i have remembered correctly etc. Now to work on the rhythm etc and making it decent! Also did a couple of run throughs of Kihon kata for my son to follow along with Kumite We did a few rounds of ippon kumite. Pretty standard and went fine

Tuesday 20 June Lifting Session didn't have a huge amount of time today due to kids but also had deadlifts to 'make up' so did a quick session of overhead press and deadlift supersets Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 95kg x 5 110kg x 5 125kg x 5 Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 35kg x 5 40kg x 5 45kg x 5 Called it there. Got the main lifts out of the way then back to the mini people!

I'm curious about this as i usually here good htings about Tokaido gi's (though i have also heard there is a difference in cut between their 'European' Gis and their 'Japanese' ones). What didn't you like about the Tokaido one? I'm extremely happy with my Hirota MH-11 too and tbh when i want a new Gi will likely get another but a Tokaido would have also been on the shortlist!

I have a group of friends who all also have either an M.A. or and M.S. We often joke that higher degrees do not make you intelligent, but actually sap your intelligence. We become experts in one field and the price is general knowledge about other things In relation to this individual though that doesn't quite hold. I'm an actuary (As she is) so my job involves financial mathematics and statistics. She held undergrad, masters and Phd in maths so she should theoretically have been an expert in her own field and was very much not!

I have a group of friends who all also have either an M.A. or and M.S. We often joke that higher degrees do not make you intelligent, but actually sap your intelligence. We become experts in one field and the price is general knowledge about other things Definitely - I think it is a common mistake many make that education guarantees intelligence. I will accept that there is a significant correlation but there are a lot of other factors at play too. I know plenty of stupid people with degrees and conversely the cleverest person i have ever met in my life doesn't have one (I work with a lot of people who have 1st class degrees from Oxford and Cambridge etc : i don't though) and he was orders of magnitude cleverer! Personally i liken intelligence to horsepower in an engine. Some people have a 'lower horsepower engine' and optimise it's performance maximally; some have a 'high horsepower one' and don't use it's full power output - though may be applied in other ways.